Wednesday, October 19, 2011

But Soft! What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks?

It is the East, and Mango is the ... incredible new and massive software update for Windows Phone.

[No, not Apple. Seriously, why must we give our technology fruit names? Is it because we typically believe that it's "sweet" but, like food, it is already beginning to stale and decompose by the time we get it? Ooh, deep.]

At 7:55 p.m. on October 18, 2011, I began the now daily process of connecting my HTC Trophy to my netbook, clicking "Check for Updates," and crossing my fingers (and legs, and toes, and hair, all sorts of body parts). At times, I would also attempt the "force" Mango trick I've seen both suggested in a comment here and elsewhere on the web. Invariably, I would curse my apparent lack of timing skills for failing to "force" Mango. Additional cursing would ensue and then chocolate would be required.

Last night, however, oh, last night, I ended up staring dumbly at the screen for several seconds trying to process the "An Update is Available for Your Phone" message in front of me.

Reeeeeeallly? An update for me?

I'll admit it - there was laughter, there was a jumping up and down, and ... an immediate nervousness. I had read of several individuals with "brick" problems following step "8" in the update. Being rather tech-challenged, I'm not familiar with this "brick" terminology but it evokes an image of throwing one's phone through a window like you, I mean, others .... other bad bad people ... would a brick.

A phone rendered useless. *shudder*

[That isn't to say that a brick is useless. Obviously, bricks are literally building blocks and were an important part of my childhood home but ... I digress. You should be used to that by now.]

And so, I entered into the update process, eager but cautious. Steps one through nine took only 20 minutes and I cheered (again, literally, and I'm sorry neighbors but, hey, when my night terror SCREAMS don't apparently bother you enough to check on my safety, I think you'll live through an occasional happy "Yay!").

Oh, wait, it wants me to look for updates again and ... oh, okay, another one is available? Cool. No problem. [Actually, at this point I was uber nervous and worried about entering into some perpetual update cycle.]

Nine more steps. Wow, this time is taking way longer than that first quickie (as so often is the case). The download alone, oye, maybe 40 minutes or so? The transfer and installation was also longer. I lifted weights, checked the update, did some crunches, checked the update, did some push-ups, checked the update. [In retrospect, an update a day would do my body good.]

In total, it took just over 2 hours for the entire process. Step 8 - restarting the phone - seemed to take forever but I think that was just me being paranoid.

Whew ... she was up and running and Mango-ized.

I handled her gingerly (good phones, like good cars, are always female), and started the Mango discovery process. The live tiles are even more alive and animated. The People hub now includes groups so my family and close friends are just a touch away rather than several websites away. My "Me" live tile allows me to post on social media, check in, set my chat status, see my social notifications and profile - all in one spot. The camera has a quick fix for photos (although I still like the Photo Enhancer app), and sharing is easier. And ringtones - OH JOY AND RAPTURE! - ringtones!! I downloaded the 99 cent easyRing app, which allows you to search through a ton of free mp3 ringtones from Amazon.com and Mobiles24.com and am happily set.

[In other words, I'll again recognize my Dad calling by hearing the theme to Smoky and the Bandit.]

I'm still very much in the discovery process with Mango but I'm LOVING what I've seen so far.